TL;DR: Mac users write messages, emails and Docs every day. Infina lets you say it instead: say "type" and your words appear in Apple Notes, say "send it" to press Enter, say "open Apple Messages (iMessage)" to switch. It runs on your Mac or Windows PC for $8.25 a month, billed annually at $99.
Apple Dictation is fine for a sentence. For working by voice all day, you want something that keeps listening and can press Enter and switch apps.
What Mac users write, and where
- Messages
- Emails
- Docs
- AI prompts
Most of it happens in Apple Notes, Apple Messages (iMessage), Gmail and ChatGPT (desktop + web). Infina types into all of them, and into any other app with a text box.
A day of Mac user work by voice
- Say "open" plus the first app you need, and you are there.
- Say "type" and talk through the messages. Infina types it at your cursor.
- Say "send it" when a message or prompt is ready, and Infina presses Enter.
- Say "open" plus the next app and carry on with the emails, without touching the keyboard.
Why hands-free beats push-to-talk for Mac users
Most dictation apps start every sentence with a key: hold it or tap it, then talk. That is fine for one message. Across a day of messages, it is hundreds of key presses. In Infina's hands-free mode you sit back and talk: "type" to write, "send it" to send, "open" to switch apps.
Guides for the apps you use
- Voice typing in Apple Notes
- Voice typing in Apple Messages (iMessage)
- Voice typing in Gmail
- Voice typing in ChatGPT (desktop + web)
Infina at a glance
- What it is: hands-free voice typing and voice control for Mac and Windows.
- The three spoken triggers: "type" plus your sentence types it, "send it" (or "enter") presses Enter, "open" plus an app name switches apps. There is no fourth.
- Hands-free mode: turn it on in Infina once, then just talk. "send it" works in hands-free mode.
- Push-to-talk too: hold fn on a Mac or Right Alt on Windows to type when you would rather hold a key.
- Where it runs: on your own computer. By default your audio never leaves it, and it works offline once set up.
- Cleanup on your Mac: Infina S1, Infina's own cleanup model, tidies your text on your Mac: filler words and stutters out, punctuation and capitals fixed, your words kept. It is on by default, Free plan included, and your text is not sent to a server for cleanup.
- Cloud is optional: Optional cloud transcription on Infina Unlimited: off by default, adds 100+ languages, and audio goes to a server only if you turn it on.
- Platforms: Mac with Apple Silicon (macOS 14 or later) and Windows 10 or 11. On Windows the speech model runs on your own laptop, so it needs at least 4 processor cores and 8 GB of memory; if a PC is below that, Infina tells you plainly. No phone app.
- Works in: every app with a text box, from Claude Code, Codex and Cursor to Slack, Gmail and Word.
- Price: $8.25 a month, billed annually at $99, unlimited words and commands. Free plan: 2,000 free words, no card required. 7-day money-back guarantee.
- Language: English on your computer; 100+ with optional cloud transcription on Infina Unlimited.
Related
- Dictation for software engineers
- Dictation for data scientists
- Dictation for podcasters
- Best dictation apps for Mac
- Best dictation apps for Windows
- Dictation guides for every job
Browse every dictation app comparison, alternatives to every dictation app, voice typing guides for every app, or the Infina facts and specs.
FAQ
What is the best dictation app for Mac users?
Infina, for Mac users who write all day in Apple Notes, Apple Messages (iMessage) and Gmail. It types what you say in any app, presses Enter when you say "send it", and switches apps when you say "open" plus a name, on Mac and Windows, for $8.25 a month, billed annually at $99.
Is dictation private enough for Mac users?
Infina turns speech into text on your own computer. By default your audio never leaves it, and it works offline once set up. Check your own workplace rules before dictating anything confidential with any tool.
Bottom line
Mac users spend hours typing. Say it instead, and let Infina send it. Download Infina and start with 2,000 free words, no card required.
Which one to buy, for this kind of work
Here is the field again, read against the way you actually work.
The tools this page covers (Apple Dictation) are at the top. The rest of the field follows, because the right answer is sometimes none of the above.
| Tool | Price | Keyboard needed | Pick it if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infina | $8.25 a month, billed annually at $99, unlimited words and unlimited commands | No. Speak "type", speak the prompt, say "send it" or "enter". | you want to prompt AI tools without touching the keyboard. Say "type" and the words go in, "send it" and the prompt goes, "open Cursor" and you are in the next agent. It is the only one of these that finishes the whole loop by voice in the tools developers prompt in all day. |
| Apple Dictation | free, built in | Yes. A key to start dictating, Enter to send. | you dictate a sentence here and there and do not want to install anything. |
| Wispr Flow | $15 a month, or $144 a year billed annually | Yes. A key to start dictating, Enter to send. | you need dictation on an iPhone or an Android phone as well as a laptop, or you write in one of 100+ languages. Those are the two things Infina does not ship. |
| Superwhisper | $8.49 a month, $84.99 a year, or $249.99 once | Yes. A key to start dictating, Enter to send. | you want to pick and swap the speech model yourself, and dictation into a text box is the whole job. It stops where the text box ends: there is no spoken send, and no spoken app switch. |
| MacWhisper | 65 euros, paid once | Yes. A key to start dictating, Enter to send. | the job is transcribing recorded audio files rather than talking to your computer while you work. |
| VoiceInk | $25 to $49, paid once | Yes. A key to start dictating, Enter to send. | you want plain local dictation at the smallest possible price and you never need your voice to control the machine. |
| Talon | free | No, once you have learned its command language. | you want to drive the entire computer by voice, cursor and clicks included, and you are willing to learn a command language to get there. Talon is the serious hands-free tool on this list. Infina goes after the same freedom with three ordinary English words instead of a syntax to learn. |
The part that is actually different: zero keypresses
The mainstream dictation apps (Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, MacWhisper, VoiceInk, Apple Dictation) are all push-to-talk: you hold or press a key to start talking, and you press Enter to send. That is two physical acts on every single prompt. A hundred prompts in a day is two hundred keypresses that exist only to start and stop the tool. Infina removes both of them. Nothing is held, nothing is pressed, and the same loop runs on three spoken words.
There are three triggers and there is no fourth. "type" types, "send it" sends, "open" opens and switches apps. The send trigger answers to either wording, "send it" or a plain "enter", whichever you find yourself saying. That is the entire vocabulary: no command language, no grammar, no custom scripts to write, nothing to memorize beyond those three words.
When Infina is not the answer. If you need dictation on an iPhone, an iPad, an Android phone or Linux, Infina is a Mac and Windows desktop app and there is no phone version. Wispr Flow covers phones.
Everywhere else, the difference is the loop. Every other tool in that table types words into a box and stops, leaving your hands to press Enter and pick the next window. Infina finishes it: say "type" and your sentence, say "send it" (or just "enter"), say "open Cursor", and keep going without a key.
Quick answers
What are the trigger words in Infina? Three. Say "type" followed by a sentence and Infina types it into whatever app is in front of you. Say "send it", or just "enter", and it presses Enter, so the prompt actually goes. Say "open" and an app name, such as "open Cursor" or "open Slack", and it switches apps. That is the whole loop, and none of it needs a hotkey or a key held down.
Can I use Claude Code or Codex without touching the keyboard? Yes, with Infina running in hands-free mode. Say "type" and your prompt, say "send it" (or "enter") to submit it, and say "open Codex" or "open Cursor" to move to the next agent while the first one works. Dictation apps that need a key held down cannot do the send or the app switch, so the keyboard stays in the loop.
Is there a dictation app that does not need a hotkey or push-to-talk? Infina, in hands-free mode. The mainstream dictation apps (Wispr Flow, Superwhisper, MacWhisper, VoiceInk, Apple Dictation) are all push-to-talk: you hold or press a key to start talking, then press Enter to send, which is two physical acts on every prompt. Infina removes both. Say "type" and your sentence, say "send it" or "enter", say "open Cursor". Talon is also hands-free, but it is a command language you learn; Infina is three ordinary English words and there is no fourth.
Is Apple Dictation or Infina better? Pick Apple Dictation if you dictate a sentence here and there and do not want to install anything. Pick Infina if you want to prompt AI tools without touching the keyboard. Say "type" and the words go in, "send it" and the prompt goes, "open Cursor" and you are in the next agent. It is the only one of these that finishes the whole loop by voice in the tools developers prompt in all day. Apple Dictation costs free, built in; Infina is $8.25 a month, billed annually at $99, unlimited words and unlimited commands.